The Southwest Times, a 124-year-old publication has returned to local ownership today. The institution was purchased by the High Plains Daily Leader and the two publications were combined in this inaugural edition. L&T photo/Shawn Yorks

L&T report

Today, Seward County Publishing Co., the parent company of the High Plains Daily Leader, purchased the Southwest Times from Liberal Publishing Co. Both papers will be combined.

The owners of both organizations said the goal of having one newspaper in Liberal needed to be realized.

“I appreciate all that I have been able to learn while working with the Lancaster family and management,” Daily Leader publisher Earl Watt said. “This could not have been accomplished without their help and support.”

Immediate changes would be that Times customers would be receiving a newspaper daily.

In addition, the new name of the combined publication will be the Leader&Times.

Other combined products will be the Shopper’s Weekly and the Southwest Shopper. This products will be known as the High Plains Shopper’s Weekly. Los Tiempos and El Lider will also be combined and will be called El Lider.

“The Times has been developing name recognition since the 1930s,” Watt said. “It was paramount that we keep that name for historic purposes.”

There will be other slight differences as the papers are combined, and Watt asked for patience from the community during the transition. Subscribers to both publications will continue to receive their newspaper.

“We will do our best to make this a seamless transition and to try to keep the features that readers enjoy,” Watt said. “As always, we invite any of our customers to contact us with any concerns.”

Watt said the transaction could not have occurred without the support of the local community.

“Several people helped make this happen, and we appreciate what they have done,” he added.

The terms of the sale were undisclosed.

This is the latest report from The Associated Press

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH

• Associated Press

124-year-old paper bought by upstart in Kan.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A 124-year-old newspaper in the small southwest Kansas town of Liberal was absorbed Thursday by an upstart rival whose two-year battle for readers captivated the newspaper industry.

Publisher Earl Watt and 15 other employees of The Southwest Times walked off their jobs in 2008, after out-of-town owners scaled the daily newspaper back to three days a week, raised fees and cut staff and content. Then Watt and his cadre of co-workers bought a $150,000 printing press and started a daily newspaper, the High Plains Daily Leader, in May 2008.

The battle, which included a federal lawsuit against the new paper, came to an end when Seward County Publishing Co., the parent company of the High Plains Daily Leader, purchased The Southwest Times from Liberal Publishing Co. The sale took effect early Thursday after papers were signed Wednesday night. Both papers will be combined and operate as the Leader & Times, the paper reported Thursday in its first issue.

The terms of the sale weren’t disclosed.

“It’s absolutely historical for this community,” said Larry Phillips, managing editor of the Daily Leader and now the Leader & Times, in an interview with The Associated Press. “Everyone told us we were insane. We did everything for the right reasons, and now it’s paid off.”

In the midst of the sparring, the Southwest Times’ parent company sued the new newspaper’s publishing company, Watt, his wife and four other former employees. The lawsuit accused the former employees of computer fraud, deceit, defamation and interfering with business relations, among other things.

Watt denied all the allegations at the time and called the lawsuit a last-ditch effort to force his new paper out of business. The suit was settled in August 2009, but no details were released.

As news of the new paper’s efforts spread, Watt found himself the subject of blogs and fielded phone calls from journalists from across the country who wanted to know how he and his staff started a paper in the town of about 20,000. There even were offers for speaking engagements, which Watt turned down. He insisted he was a “small town guy” and wanted to focus on the paper.

Still, he said Thursday, all the attention has been “humbling.”

“We knew that it was going to be perceived as, ‘How are these guys going to pull this thing off,’” Watt said. “At the same time we believed in it. We believed that newspapers still have a future. We believed that daily news service is still important, especially in communities like ours.

“A newspaper is a community institution. It binds people together. Some people like to say that we are chronicling the history and we just don’t believe that. We believe that we provide a roadmap to the future.”

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About The High Plains Daily Leader

The High Plains Daily Leader and Southwest Daily Times are published Sunday through Friday and reaches homes throughout the Liberal, Kansas retail trade zone. The Leader & Times is the official newspaper of Seward County, USD No. 480, USD No. 483 and the cities of Liberal and Kismet. The Leader & Times is a member of the Liberal Chamber of Commerce, the Kansas Press Association, the National Newspaper Association and the Associated Press.

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